First Sight
by 2originalcents
Summary: Butters is so obsessed with fulfilling the 'love at first sight' myth that he's blind to the person sitting in front of him.


**Thanks notidkgba27 for the idea :D**

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Ever since he first heard about it when he was a small boy, Butters knew in his heart of hearts that he would know who his special someone was by simply seeing them. _Love at first sight_, he would undoubtedly explain to his children. _That's all it took, one look, and I knew they were the one._

Naturally, this was easier said than done, and as senior year of high school was quickly approaching, Butters was growing desperate to fulfill his romantic destiny. Whenever he was in a public setting, he would scan the crowd and search for his person, who usually took the form of a pretty girl, and he would stare at her until she felt his gaze and awkwardly turn to see who was looking at her. When she found Butters, the girl would do one of two things: turn back quickly to her friends, mutter some words and they would all walk away together and shield her from him; or she would give him the stinkeye herself and turn back to her friends, unfazed and unimpressed.

Butters' faith, however, was unwavering, and he knew one day his person would turn to him and smile, and not just run away or flick him off.

"God, Butters, your promised me lunch at the foodcourt. I wouldn't have come if I knew you were still on about this 'love at first sight' bullshit," Cartman complained as he leaned against the handrail of the second floor of the mall, his head in his hand as he looked anywhere but the crowd below.

Butters was beside him, looking this was and that for anyone who might turn up and see him. "Sorry, Eric. But we'll get something soon-Oh!"

"What?" Cartman asked, bored and turning over to see Butters blush.

"You see that boy down there in the grey jeans and black beanie? He looked up at me!"

Cartman looked down and found the boy walking with his friends towards the Macy's.

"Come on! Let's go," Butters said, swatting Cartman's arm and heading towards the escalator.

"Where are we going?"

"To talk to him!"

Cartman followed half-heartedly behind Butters, but inside the Macy's they had lost the boy. Butters was going to search the first floor while Cartman searched the second so they could cover more ground. After five minutes of genuinely attempting to find the boy for Butters, Cartman stepped out of the Macy's and instead surveyed the menu of a pretzel stand that was just next door. As he was deciding whether or not to buy himself some pretzel bites or wait for lunch, someone tapped his shoulder. He turned and was startled to see the boy with the black beanie smiling at him.

"Hey, uh, sorry to bother you, but I saw you standing next to that blond kid with a light blue shirt. You're his friend, right?" The boy asked, grinning and fumbling through his words.

"Yeah," Cartman said, appraising him and thinking there wasn't anything special about him.

"I was wondering if you could give him this? I would really appreciate it." The boy handed Cartman a small piece of notebook paper, folded in half.

"Sure," Cartman said, taking the message, his expression stoic.

"Thanks. I'll see you later," the boy said, slightly waving and sheepishly walking away.

Cartman watched him go find his friends and then turned back to the paper. He unfolded it and saw that the boy had written his name, his number, and drew a heart with a smilely face inside it.

"Huh," Cartman said to himself, mildly impressed that Butters' instincts were right on this one, he had made a connection with the boy. He walked up to the cashier of the pretzel stand, but rather than order anything he left the note the boy gave him in their tip jar and walked towards the food court, where he told Butters to meet him so they could finally eat something.

"I can't believe I lost him," Butters said, pouting and eating his french fries.

"Yeah, he really got away from us," Cartman said, looking down as he bit into his burger.

"This mall isn't even that big, how could we have lost him so quickly?"

Cartman shrugged. He took another big bite of his burger before looking up to face Butters.

"You know," he started to say. "I think you're way too obsessed with this whole myth. Sure, some people fall in love at first sight, but that's not the only story there is. You're closing yourself off to other stories, plus, forcing something is never a good idea."

Butters watched him and was taken aback by how sound Cartman's reasoning was. "You make a really good point."

"Yeah, and there's other stories. Like people who hate each other at first but then realize how perfect they are for each other. Or people who've known each other their whole lives. Or when two friends realize who they really wanted was right in front of them-"

Butters scoffed and shook his head.

"I think the ship's sailed for a few of those. But you're right, Eric! I shouldn't force this! I'll find my person when I least suspect it!"

Butters smiled widely at Cartman and continued eating his meal, much more upbeat now than he was before.

Cartman couldn't help but smile. He looked back down at his meal and said, "Yeah."


End file.
